New SFMTA Logo: Agency Crowdsources New Look (PHOTOS)

Given how SF Weekly recently reported about Muni's urgent need to get its house in order, San Francisco's beleaguered transit agency really shouldn't be spending much money on non-essentials.

That's why, when the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency wanted a new logo to celebrate entering its second century of getting you there eventually, the agency decided to crowdsource its way into some free labor.

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The task of coming up with a new logo for SFMTA was put out by ImproveSF, a website created by Mayor Ed Lee's office in coordination with the San Francisco Planning And Urban Research Association.

46 artists submitted proposals to replace the current logo, and one by Method Design's Paul Miller came out on top.

There’s no in-your-face imagery that says this logo represents a transportation agency. It’s more subtle than that, said...Miller.

"This identity leverages the concept of paths," Miller said. "Whether they are via foot, bike, car, or train, these paths are connected or woven. The presented mark represents a part or crop of a larger pattern which can be connected for various multi-use applications. The connection of these pattern tiles represents growth and community."

Combined with the tagline "Moving Forward Together," the logo is supposed to represent the different interconnected stands of the city's transportation system managed by SFMTA. It also has a much better ring to it than "The Guys All The Cabbies Hate."

"As the agency enters its second century of operation, we are working with the people of San Francisco to develop a corporate brand that embraces our multimodal transportation network," SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose told the San Francisco Examiner. "We are not just responsible for buses, streetcars and cable cars anymore."

Even the switch itself will be done on the cheap. The new logo will only be added to buses when they go in for routine maintenance and emblazoned onto new vehicles as they're added to the fleet.